Sensex up 4 percent despite profit booking (Weekly Market Review)

Mumbai, May 9 (IANS) Indian equities markets rallied this week thanks to a handsome rise Monday, holding on to gains in spite of investors booking profits. However, analysts are keeping their fingers crossed for the election results due May 16. A key index rose 4.15 percent till end of trade Friday from its previous weekly close.

The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended the week at 11,876.43 points, a gain of 4.15 percent or 473.18 points, over the previous week’s close of 11,403.25 points.

The S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) followed the Sensex registering almost 4.5 percent increase from its last close to end at 3,620.7 points.

“The market becomes edgy whenever there is uncertainty, like when there is an election. It is the uncertainty which induces volatility. In such situations markets tend to overreact to any development,” said Avinash Gupta, assistant vice president of equity research at brokerage firm Bonanza.

The Sensex hit an intra-week high of 12,272 points and low of 11,765, while the Nifty hit an intra-week high of 3,717 points and low of 3,478.7.

Broader market indices ended the week on a greater high, with the BSE midcap index closing 7.3 percent higher than its previous weekly close, while the BSE smallcap index was up 8.54 percent.

Sensex Monday saw the biggest gain in a single day since Oct 31, 2008, soaring more than 700 points, raising hopes that the rally that has kept the bourses in green for eight-nine weeks can be sustained. Indian markets were also enthused by rallying global bourses.

Similarly, the Nifty gained 4.96 percent to close at 3,646.35 points.

Tuesday saw the Sensex ending trade with marginal losses after a volatile day of trade. It dipped 3.67 points to shut shop at 12,131.08 points.

Though the Nifty too was volatile, it ended trade in the green gaining 0.22 percent to close at 3,661.9 points.

Wednesday saw the investors book profits and pulling down the Sensex by another 178 points.

It ended trade at 11,952.75 points, while Nifty lost 1.01 percent to close at 3,625.05 points.

Renewed buying activity and strong global bourses propped the markets Thursday with the Sensex almost reversing Wednesday’s losses to end trade at 12,116.94 points.

The Nifty gained 1.62 percent to close at 3,683.9 points.

Friday was another day of profit booking that pulled down the Sensex by 240 points to 11,876.43 points.

In the US, winning listings outnumbered losers by nearly seven to one Friday, led by financial shares after the government announced late Thursday that top US banks had overall stronger balance sheets than widely believed.

The broad-based Standard and Poor’s 500 Index soared 21.84 points, or 2.41 percent, to 929.23, finishing the week higher for the eighth time in nine weeks. The index was up 5.9 percent for the week.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 3.63 percent for the week to end at 8,574.65, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index saw a marginal increase of 0.47 percent, to 1,739.